Breeds of Geese

Credits: Biovision-Infonet

There are two main types of domestic geese, derived from the wild Greylag goose (Anser anser) in Europe, and from the wild Swan goose (Anser cygnoides) in Asia.

The FAO’s Animal Genetic Resource database (AnGR) identifies 204 different breeds or varieties of geese. Many of these are thought to to have little economic importance because of their relatively low production or performance levels, or a limited geographic distribution.

CZECHOSLOVAKIAN WHITE (Anser anser)

This goose is a white goose with orange shanks and an orange beak. It is also known as the Bohemian goose. It has a relatively small body size, with the males weighing 5.0 kg and the females 4.0 kg but its egg production, averaging 45 eggs with an egg weight of 140 g, is fairly good for Anser anser type geese.

This means it can be useful as a female line in the production of a crossbred commercial goose.

EMBDEN (Anser anser)

The Embden is a white goose with relatively tight feathering, an erect stand, orange shanks and an orange beak. Most strains of Embden can be sexed on the down colour of the goslings, as males are a lighter grey than females. This difference is evident until the goslings are two to three weeks of age.

The breed has been relatively popular for many years in both Europe and North America. It is one of the larger breeds with males weighing up to 10.0 kg and females up to 9.0 kg.

It has a moderate egg production producing 40 eggs per year with an egg size of 170 g. The Embden is suitable for heavy type meat production but is probably of more value when used as a male line in the production of a crossbred commercial goose.

KUBAN (Anser cygnoides)

This breed was developed at the Kuban Agricultural Institute (southern Russia) by crossing Gorki and Chinese geese. The feather colour is brown which results in relatively dark pin-feathers and thus an unattractive carcass.

These birds have orange shanks while their beaks and knobs are black to dark green. The adult body weight for the male is 5.2 kg and 4.8 kg for the female.

The advantage of this breed is that they have a relatively high egg production of between 50-60 eggs with an average egg weight of 150 g.

This makes the Kuban suitable for use as a female line in a crossbreeding programme provided it is used in such a way that the resulting commercial crossbreeds are essentially white and that the poor body conformation associated with the Kuban can be overcome.

LANDES (Anser anser)

Both the males and females of this breed are grey and their shanks and beaks are orange to yellow. This breed originated in France but has been widely used in a number of other countries, notably Hungary, for the production of fatty livers (Foie Gras).

Today there are a number of lines of the Landes that have been selected for their ability to produce fatty livers. They originate from the grey Toulouse geese, but today their feather phenotype is similar to the wild Greylag goose although they are much larger in body size.

The adult body weight of the male is 6.0 kg while that of the female is 5.0 kg. The annual egg production is 40 eggs per female per year with an egg weight of 170 g. 

POMERANIAN (Anser anser)

Pomeranian geese originated from the north-western part of Poland but they are also present in northeastern Germany and the south of Sweden.

They come in three colours: white, grey or white and grey. In all cases, they have orange shanks and beaks.

The Pomeranian as been described as a solidly built goose with the adult body weight of the male being 6.0 kg and that of the female being 5.0 kg. The average egg production is 40 eggs per female with an average weight of 170 g.

WHITE ITALIAN (Anser anser)

The White Italian is a very popular breed in Europe and one often finds reference to it in the formation of local stocks. It is also a breed that has been well researched.

The White Italians reported on in this publication are those kept at the Koluda Wielka Experimental Station in Poland where they have been under genetic selection since the 1960s and where separate male and female lines have been developed. 

Goslings of both lines can be sexed during the first ten days of life on down colour, as males are lighter in colour than females. As the name indicates, the adult plumage is white while the shanks and beaks are orange. In the male line, the average body weight of males is 7.0 kg and of females is 6.5 kg, while in the female line the average is 6.5 kg for the males and 6.2 kg for the females.

Annual egg production for the male line is 55-65 eggs while for the female line it is 60-70 eggs and egg weight for both is 160-180 g. The White Italian, at least for these strains, has the highest egg production of any of the Anser anser type breeds.

Thus these lines can be used directly as male and female lines respectively to produce two-way commercial crosses or the female line can be used to produce a crossbred female parent line. The White Italian and, particularly, these lines are therefore one of the breeds of choice for anyone wanting to produce geese for meat production.

For more information on goose production see the publication by Buckland and Guy, which includes sections on reproduction, breeding, flock management, housing, meat production, killing and processing. This publication also includes papers on goose production in South America, Indonesia, and Poland and Eastern Europe. References and Further Reading Buckland, R. and Guy, G. (2002). Goose Production. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 154. FAO, Rome. FAO’s DAD-IS: Information system for the Global Strategy